Forgiven
by vlynn5894
Summary: She's everything Bill Kaulitz's ever wanted. But when she's take away they lose touch due to her constant moving around and his growning popularity. When they meet again 4years later, can she find the strenght to forgive him for forgeting her? Tokio Hotel
1. She's definatly not a cheerleader

**Heyy guys!! Sorry I had to delete the last story, someone reported it FOR THE THIRD TIME!!!!!!!!! :( But now it's back, so enjoy!! Please R&R!! (disclaimer thingy: I do not own Tokio Hotel)**

Uhhh. I hate having Health first thing in the morning. All we do is talk about how not to get sick or get STDs or whatever, and looking at pictures of magnified flu germs and body parts infected with Herpes is not a good way to start morning. At least Tom had to sit through this with me. On the down side, we're on opposite sides of the room, so we can't comment on what he says when he's lecturing the class.

Normally every day is as similar as Tom and mines DNA; walk in, sit down, 20 minutes of bookwork, then 25 minutes of aimless lecture. But today, something different happened; today we got a new student. Mr. Rancher was talking to the vice principal about it in the hall after the bell rang. When he came back in, he stood before us.

"In a few minutes, we will be getting a new student, whom I'm told just flew in last night from the United States."

This, of course, got the whole class in a flurry. The 'poodles', the group of prissy girls that sit in the middle of the room, whispered excitedly about it.

"If it's a guy, I hope he's one of those surfers. They're, like, known for having awesome bods!"

"I hope they're not fat, the U.S. is the fattest country in the world. If it's a fat person, I'm gonna have to switch out of this class."

"What if it's a girl?"

"Then I hope she's pretty, but she better not think she can win over all the guys in this school. She'll have to understand that _we_ own this campus."

Even the jocks were anticipating the arrival of the new student.

"Dude, if this guy's a total freak, I'm gonna throw him in the dumpsters as a welcoming gesture."

"If it's a girl, I hope she's a cheerleader. The U.S. is known for having hot girls that look good in skirts.

"If she is hot, I'll have to take her on tour of the city, starting with my bed."

Sean, the football team captain, looked over at Tom who was still half asleep and couldn't care less about what Sean did.

"Unless SOMEBODY else wants to be first and screw her like you already did half the other girls in this school."

"Yeah, that's only about five hundred times more action than you'll ever see," Tom said groggily.

Just then, Mr. Rancher walked back in the room. Behind him were the vice principal and the new student. She had long dark brown hair that fell in layers down to the middle of her back. She had wide blue eyes that quickly scanned over everyone's face from behind her long, dark eye lashes. She was wearing a simple, plain black hoodie, a pair of light blue jeans with a studded belt, and black Vans. I noticed she was wearing what looked like a steel guitar pick engraved with an eighth note on a chain around her neck. Her black canvas messenger bag had a white treble clef painted on it; it looked like she had painted it on herself, but I couldn't be sure. Her hands were in her pockets as the vice principal spoke.

"This is your new classmate. Her name is Victoria, and she just came here from the United States of America," she looked down at the young girl. "Did you enjoy your journey overseas?" she asked in broken English.

"I slept most of the time," Victoria replied in perfect German.

The class laughed at her response. The vice principal was treating her like a little kid, and she was acting totally nonchalantly.

"You speak German very well, were your parents from here?" Mr. Rancher asked.

"No, my grandmother made me learn a couple years ago."

"Well, you've already got a lot of trouble settled then. Now, your schedule is the same as Mr. Kaulitz, so you'll be following him all day."

"Uh, which 'Mr. Kaulitz' were you referring to?" Rancher commented from his desk.

Just then, shouts of a fight came from the hall. The teacher and vice principal ran out of the room to stop whatever was happening, leaving Mr. Rancher's question unanswered and Victoria standing in front of all of us. I didn't have to turn my head to know the poodles and the jocks were scrutinizing every inch of her. She wasn't fat, or ugly, and defiantly not a cheerleader. Though in my opinion, she did make the room a little brighter with her presence. She looked more like someone who'd be hanging out with Tom and I and our friends. Maybe she will. I hope she will. She looked slightly uncomfortable up there with everyone staring at her.

"Why did he say 'which one'?" she asked after a few beats of awkward silence.

Everyone pointed to either Tom or me. She just looked back and forth between the two of us.

"Is that just by coincidence, or are you two related?"

"We're twins," Tom said.

"Identical twins," I emphasized.

Her eyes widened a little, looking at the two of us again.

"Wow," was all she whispered.

"Are you a junkie?" one of the poodles, Ashley, asked out of nowhere. Victoria just blinked.

"No, are you?"

"No, you just look like a junkie."

"How?"

"You're wearing a black hoodie, and black shoes, and you have a black bag," Ashley stated.

"Ok, if we're judging by appearances here, let's see. Bleached hair, waxed eyebrows and I bet that's not all you wax, pink tank top, push-up bra, mini skirt that has to be too short for school standards. To me you look like either a-a slut, b-a bitch, c-a priss, or d-all of the above. I'm gonna go with d on this one."

Everyone looked at her with raised eyebrows and open mouths. No one had ever said anything like that to the poodles before. I wanted to start applauding, but Sean, who was also Ashley's boyfriend, would've pounded me if I did. I suddenly hoped I was the one she would be following. She seemed like an interesting person.

Victoria pulled a piece of paper out of her pocket. I noticed her nails were cut short and painted black. She also had two rings and a studded bracelet on her hand

"So, which of you two has history and then chorus next?" she once again looked back and forth between Tom and me.

"Bill does," Tom stated, looking over at me.

Wait I do? Oh yeah, I do!

"I guess that means I'm following you around today," she smiled at me. God, she had a beautiful smile.

"I-I guess so," I said, putting in my best smile.

Mr. Rancher and the vice principal walked back in the room just then.

"Alright Victoria, as I said you'll be following Bill today," she said, pointing at me, "so he'll show where everything is and how things work in your classes. Good luck!" She finally left the room, but once again, Victoria was left standing in front of us until Rancher told her to take the empty seat next to me. The rest of the period went smoothly with just bookwork needing to be done. When the bell rang I waited for Victoria before walking to History.


	2. OMG! SKITTLES!

We didn't get any chances to talk, since all our classes were on opposite sides of the campus from each other. All I learned about her in the five minutes we to run was that she lived with her dad because her parents were divorced, she had a cat named Misha, she hates the color pink, and loved Evanescence. So it wasn't until lunch when I got to sit got down with Tom, Gustav and Georg that we finally got to have a conversation. We sat in our normal spot in the grass as we pulled out our paper bags of food.

"So, why did you and your dad move all the way out here to Germany?" I asked her.

"Because his job transferred him here. He works for a casino and they want to set up some here or something."

"That had to be hard to move all the way to a different country," Georg commented.

She just shrugged. "It wasn't that bad. I only had a few friends back there, so not that many people will miss me."

I found this hard to believe, she seemed like such a cool person why wouldn't she have a lot of friends?

"I find that hard to believe," Tom said. He must've been thinking the same thing as me.

"Yeah; you'd never know, but I'm actually not a very social person."

"It didn't seem like that when you mouthed off to Ashley this morning," Tom laughed.

"You talked back to her?" Georg shot her a look of amazement. Ashley was the head cheerleader and everyone felt intimidated by her; Even the older girls at our school. Her friends weren't kidding when they said they owned this campus.

"Well, she was being a bitch, and I don't like when people talk to me like that," Victoria stated. "I made the mistake of letting people intimidate me a couple of years ago, and from that I learned that when people treat you like shit, you gotta stop them before it goes too far."

"Yeah, we get less-than-appreciated comments a lot; especially from Sean," I said.

"Who?"

"Football captain," Tom rolled his eyes. Victoria seemed to understand.

"Jocks; can't live with 'em, can't seem to avoid them."

Just then, she pulled a bag of candy from her bag. They were small and round and in multiple colors.

"What are those?" I asked. She looked at me like I had grown a second head.

"Skittles," she said slowly.

"What are they?" Georg repeated my question. Victoria looked at us like we all had grown second heads.

"Do you seriously not know what Skittles are?" We all shook our heads.

"You guys have been deprived," she said, shaking her head and pouring several of the little candies into her palm. She held her hand out to us, offering us the small items. We each took one and popped it into our mouths. The taste that came off it was sweeter than anything I'd ever tasted! It was like opening my eyes to a much more colorful world. If this was what the United States was like, I had nothing against it. The rest of the guys seemed to be thinking the same thing. The looks on our faces must've tipped her off on the little pleasure trip the Skittles were sending us on.

"Like 'em?" she giggled.

"How many more of those do you have?" Gustav asked.

"I might have a few bags at home, but that's it. What, you guys don't have Skittles in Germany?"

We all shook our heads no. She obviously wasn't expecting that.

"Like, nowhere?" she asked in shock. We all shook our heads again. "AAAHHHH!!!!! If I'd known that, I would've stocked up before I left! Shit!"

The bell signaling the end of lunch rang then, so we all threw out our trash, except for the Skittles, and headed to class.

The rest of the day was pretty dull, even with Victoria to talk to. At the end of the day I walked with her and Tom to the bus stop. She told me she had to walk home, so we said good bye and watched her walk away. I got kind of worried when I saw some of the football jerks follow her, whispering and laughing, but decided not to worry about it.


	3. We have new neighbors

After almost an hour on the cramped bus, Tom and I finally got off the godforsaken bus at the corner by our house. As we approached our house, I noticed a moving truck in front of the house across the street that had been sold for a while now, but I had never seen anyone really go in or out of it. I was curious as to who had finally moved in. Tom and I entered our house and watched T.V while doing our homework for the next hour.

~*~*~*~*90 minutes later*~*~*~*~*~

The moving truck had driven off almost twenty minutes ago, along with the sun. I looked out the window and noticed a light on in the house across the street. It was in one of the upstairs bedrooms, and I could see a familiar-looking head of long brown hair in the window. I told Tom I'd be back in a minute and stepped outside. I crossed the street, stopping right under the lit window."

"Hey, Victoria!" I shouted at the window. A moment later the window opened and she was leaning out, looking down at me.

"Hey! What are you doing here, at my house, after dark?" she questioned.

"I live right across the street," I said, gesturing to my house behind me.

"Oh, I thought you were stalking me or something," she said relieved. "Hang on; I'll be down in a sec." She disappeared from the window and about thirty seconds later the front door opened.

"Wow, that was fast," I commented.

"Thanks! You wanna come in? It looks like it's gonna rain soon," she held the door open for me.

I stepped inside to what I guessed to be the living room. There were stacks of boxes everywhere, each with its own room name on it.

"Sorry about the mess, our stuff just got here today and I haven't had time to unpack anything yet," she explained.

"Why doesn't your dad help you?"

"He had to go straight to work as soon as we got off the plane. I took a cab to school and walked all the way back here. He's out looking for a place to build a casino for his company. He should be back at some point tonight, though."

"So, you're all alone over here?" I summarized.

"Basically," she confirmed. I couldn't help but laugh. Thunder sounded and we both realized how hard it was raining outside now.

"Fuck!! I left the window open!" Victoria suddenly remembered. She turned and bolted up the stairs. I followed closely behind her. She reached the top of the stairs almost as fast as she went down them earlier. She ran into the first room at the top of the stairs and sprinted straight to the window. She pulled on it hard, but it wouldn't move.

"Damn thing's stuck," she grunted. The wind was blowing rain in and onto the floor, as well as all over Victoria. I ran to her side and pulled on the window as well. At first it didn't move much, hardly at all, but after a few seconds of intense pulling, we managed to shut the window. Victoria locked it and sat on the floor, breathing hard. Her hair and hoodie were soaked from the rain. I'm pretty sure my hair was just as wet and my make-up was running. I sat down beside her, wiping at my face to eliminate any possible smudges.

"So what are you doing over here, all alone?" I inquired.

"Well, when I got home I did my homework in, like, twenty minutes. And now I'm just unpacking stuff in my room."

"Would you like some help?"

"I wouldn't mind the company, and we could set up my bed faster so I have somewhere to sleep tonight," she said.

"OK!"

We spent the next two hours putting together and arranging furniture. She had shed her sopping wet hoodie so she could work in her black tank top and jeans. I didn't let her know, but I thought she looked even more beautiful when her curved hips and slim body weren't hidden under her baggy hoodie. She was also rather muscular. Not in a body-builder kinda way, but she didn't have wimpy toothpick arms like the poodles, either. We listened to her laptop playing music as we worked. We also talked a lot more about each other. I learned that she was into mostly heavy metal and rock music, her favorite color is blue, he younger brother lived with her mom back in the U.S, she played guitar and piano, and so many other things I can't even remember most of them. I also told her that, like her, my biological parents were divorced, about our band we were trying to get more popularity for, and even about how Tom had slept with Ashley and then was dumped by her the next day. The more I got to know her, the more in common we seemed to have. When we had finished in her room, we realized it was almost 7:30 and we both suddenly became quite ravenous.

"Wanna get some food? I went to the store on my way home," she offered.

I graciously accepted as we went down stairs. We ended up making frozen raviolis, which were really good, and sauce from a jar. We sat at the high kitchen counter on stools, eating in silence for a while.

"So how do you like Germany so far?" I asked when I couldn't stand the silence anymore.

"Well, considering all I've seen is school, a grocery store, and my house, I'd say it's alright," she shrugged.

"Maybe I can take you on a tour of some of the more interesting parts tomorrow, since it is Saturday," I suggested.

"That sounds like fun, but how are we gonna get around?"

"We can get a van from our management."

"Oh, well then I guess I'm going on an adventure tomorrow," she said, pretending to act like one of those supper-excited cartoon characters. I'd only known her for one day and I could already tell she could make jokes out of anything. Tomorrow was going to be fun, even if Magdeburg didn't have much to offer.


	4. I think we're more than just friends

**Sorry I haven't updated in a while! I've been suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuupeeeeeeeeeeerr busy with skool. A big thanks to my reviewers!!! Luv u guyss!!! Things are gonna start to heat up in this chapter, so stick with me here. I DO NOT OWN TOKIO HOTEL!! (wish I did though ;)**

We finished eating and went back upstairs to watch T.V in Victoria's room. She had hooked up the cable while we were setting up her room. We sat on her bed and watched mindless cartoons for a while before switching to some other channel. She hit the button and we were greeted by two people making out on MTV.

"Uh, why does modern television insist on advertising such-adultery?" Victoria questioned.

"Because the intelligence of the average human is ever-so-slowly dropping," I answered, "therefore leaving us to find simpler forms of entertainment."

"And by 'simpler' do you mean 'more vulgar'?"

"Ja."

"Makes sense."

But despite our disgust over the couple groping each other, neither of us could seem to change the channel or look away. It was actually somewhat interesting. I glanced down at Victoria to see how she was reacting to what she described as adultery. She was pretty into it as well. It almost looked like she had a sense of longing in her eyes. Wait, she had called this stuff stupid, yet she wanted it? We were still watching the couple make out when the lights and the T.V suddenly went out.

"Niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice!" Victoria cried out sarcastically.

"Well, now what?" I questioned. My phone vibrated in my pocket and I suddenly remembered I told Tom I'd only be gone for a few minutes. I had been gone nearly three hours! I nervously pulled out my phone and pressed the answer button.

"H-Hallo?" I stuttered.

"Bill where are you? You've been gone for three hours and the power just went out," Tom sounded concerned, but not mad. I let out in internal sigh of relief.

"I'm across the street with Victoria. She just moved in and I was-"

"Whoa!! Stop there! Go no further! Just have fun and remember to use protection!" he hung up before I could scold him for being such a perv.

I stared at my phone for a minute before realizing Victoria had heard everything that Tom had just said. I could feel my face turning bright red with embarrassment. I was thankful we were in the dark where she couldn't see me.

"Sorry you, uh, had to hear that," I said awkwardly. I didn't need to see her face to know that she was staring at me.

"It's alright, my friends would've said the same if I told them I was alone with a guy," she shrugged.

We sat in the dark for a few silent beats before she spoke again.

"I'm gonna go get some candles."

She opened her cell phone and, using it as a flashlight, walked over to one box that lay on the floor in the hall, still unpacked. I heard her rummage around for a little while before striking a match and returning with one lit candle in hand and several more under her arms. I watched as she went around the room, setting down candles and lighting them with the one she had originally walked in with. When she sat back on her bed the room was softly glowing from the flickering flames. Somehow, it gave Victoria a certain look that was not quite angelic, yet just bordering on seductive in a soft way. I resisted the urge to slowly look at her from soft brown locks to the painted tips of her toes. Instead, I found myself staring at her full, slightly parted lips. I quickly pulled my eyes to meet hers, hoping she hadn't noticed where I'd been looking. I was surprised to find her looking at my lips for just a moment, looking up quickly. The desire I had seen earlier was still there, now it was stronger than before. She sighed and looked down at the floor, embarrassed.

"You should probably go soon. The rain's letting up and your parents are probably getting worried about you," she said softly.

Deciding I couldn't resist this urge anymore, I placed my hand under her chin and turned her face back towards me.

"Do you really want me to leave?" I asked in a whisper. My face was only centimeters from hers.

"No."

Our lips met for a moment then parted only to be rejoined instantly, this time deeper as we lost all rational thought. Kissing was the only thing both of us seemed to be concerned about. Our arms and hands seemed to take on minds of their own as they wrapped around each other's neck, waist, running through the other's hair, down each other's arms, backs, sides. I gently pushed Victoria back until I was lying on top of her. I softly nipped at her lower lip, not stopping until she granted my tongue entrance. She let out a soft moan as our tongues danced back and forth in slow movements. I could feel her hands on my chest moving down to the bottom of my shirt. She slowly pulled it up and off as our kissing continued; only stopping for my shirt to be thrown onto the floor. My own hands worked their way down her body, gently massaging her torso on the way down. When I pulled at her shirt, she arched her back, allowing me to lift it over head easier. I dragged my eyes up and down her uncovered body, her tight, flat stomach, her even tan, the way her black bra fit her just a little too tightly. I leaned down to kiss the tender flesh of her long neck. Her breath hitched as I sucked at the soft skin. I trailed kisses up her neck and jaw, back to her lips. My hands wandered back down her body, this time stopping at the button of her jeans. Her hand slid down from my shoulder to the center of my chest as I ran my fingers teasingly along the waistband of her jeans. Just as I was about to unbutton them, Victoria pushed against me, breaking the kiss and stopping all actions except for our heavy breathing.

"Bill," she breathed, "not here; not now."

Looking into her eyes, I saw that she really wasn't really ready for that so soon. As my head cleared, I realized I was acting like Tom. The thought sent shivers down my spine. I sat up on the bed, feeling embarrassed and ashamed of what I was about to do. What the hell was I thinking? I just met her that morning! Idiot, idiot, idiot! My shirt was suddenly in front of my face and dropped into my lap. I glanced over to see Victoria pulling her tank top over head, her back to me. I quickly followed suit and stood up, searching for where I had left my sneakers when I took them off earlier. I found them and slipped them on quietly. Victoria was standing by the window, back still facing me.

"Sorry if I was moving too fast," I said. "I didn't realize what I was doing until you stopped me."

"It's alright; I was kinda asking for it," she responded slightly uncomfortably. "Well, I guess now we can say we like each other as more than just friends, let alone acquaintances."

"Ja. Well, I-I should get home, i-it's getting late," I stuttered as I made my way towards the door.

"You still gonna show me around this place tomorrow?" she asked just I placed one foot out her bedroom door. I stopped and turned to see her smiling that million-watt smile at me.

"Of course," I smiled back.

I walked down the stairs and out the front door. It had stopped raining and now the stars were out. I crossed the street, walking to my front door. I turned around to look at Victoria's bedroom window again. She was still looking out the window, down at me. I waved before opening the door and quietly sneaking past my parents' room to my room. One the way, I passed Tom coming out of the bathroom.

"So, how'd it go?" he asked with his trademark smirk on. I just walked past him to my room, closing the door behind me. Tomorrow was going to be fun.


	5. A look inside

I woke up to the sound of my phone telling me I had a new text message. I opened my phone to see it was from Victoria. Suddenly remembering I had promised to take her on a tour of the city, I climbed out of bed and walked out to the bathroom to take a shower. As I was walking through hall, Tom grabbed my shirt from behind.

"You never answered my question last night, and you had a rather stupid grin on your face. So again I ask, how'd it go?" he was oddly alert this morning.

"What are you talking about?" I decided to play dumb.

"Oh, come on! You were gone for nearly three hours, even after the lights went out! And I saw the candle light in the window! Don't think you can hide something like that from me, I'm an expert on that in case you forgot."

Nope, I did not forget. It actually amazed me how much 'experience' he'd already gotten in his short fifteen years of life.

"Tom, nothing happened. We were watching T.V. Now move so I can take a shower." I was in no mood to stand here and tell Tom I'd made out with a girl we'd just met.

"Ohh, what's your hurry? Want to look good for Victoria on your day of playing tour guide?" there was his stupid smirk again.

"Well- wait, how did you know I'm showing her around?"

"Your phone went off, like, a hundred times before you finally got up. Woke me up after about fifty."

"You read my text messages?" Shit.

"Not all of them, but I did tell Victoria you'd meet her at ten in front of her house."

Thank God.

"Good; what time is it now?"

"It's almost 9:15."

"Thanks," I mumbled, walking past him into the bathroom.

"So what _did_ happen?" Tom asked as I slammed the door in his face.

45 minutes later I was dressed and walking across the street to get Victoria. The van our record company had sent us was waiting at the corner. Tom, Gustav and Georg were coming with us on our trip around the city. I was slightly nervous as to how she would act towards me after the previous night. Just as I was about to knock on the door, it opened and closed again in the same second as Victoria jump outside and leaned against the door. She was wearing a plain black t-shirt that clung to her body, leaving very little to the imagination. She was also wearing light blue jeans that had several large holes and a pair of black flip-flops. Unlike the previous day, she was wearing a small amount of dark eye shadow and eye liner which made her light blue eyes stand out against her dark hair which was pulled back by a black headband. She was still wearing her rings, but had gotten rid of her studded bracelet.

"How'd you do that so fast?" I stared in bafflement.

"I'm a ninja," she said with a dorky yet cute smile.

"Oh really? Funny, pretty, _and_ a ninja-is there anything you can't do?" I said jokingly

She blushed slightly at me calling her pretty. Her eyes darted to the side and her mouth gathered to one side.

"I can't……not laugh at random words," she stated, looking back at me.

"Pudding," I said, testing her reaction. She stifled a giggle by biting her bottom lip, "pudding, vanilla pudding, chocolate pudding, banana pudding!"

She suddenly burst into a fit a laughter that turned her face red and had her holding her stomach. Her contagious laughter soon had me laughing with her. We stood there for a few minutes laughing like a couple of idiots before we heard everyone in the van yelling at us to move it. We walked to the van and climbed in.

"Took you two long enough," Tom said as we sat down.

"What were you doing, exchanging make-up tips?" Georg asked. I turned around and attempted to smack him upside the head, but he caught my arm and pushed it back. I told the driver where to go and we started off on our day of exploration.

All morning we drove around to the parks, lakes, the mall, everything we could think of Victoria would need to know about. She seemed rather interesting in the small coffee shop I pointed out to her called The Dark Corner. We stopped for lunch at our favorite restaurant after a few hours. It was a pretty small diner; not many people, so it wouldn't be likely we would run into anyone from school. We sat down and placed our drink orders before talking some more.

"So now that you've seen more of it, how do you like Germany?" Tom asked her.

"It's a lot like the town I lived in the United States," she said, looking over the menu. It looked like she was having difficulty reading it.

"Problem?" Gustav must've noticed her struggling as well.

"I can't tell what anything says."

"Didn't you say your grandmother made you learn German?" I recalled.

"She taught me to _speak_ it, not how to _read_ it."

After some translating and explaining, we were able to order.

"So did your grandmother teach you any other languages?" Georg asked when our waiter had left.

"Mhm," she nodded with a mouth full of iced tea, "Dutch, Russian, French, and I took American Sign Language in school.

We were all impressed with ability to speak so many languages.

"Maybe when we go on tour this summer, you can be our translator," I suggested.

"Maybe," she said, flirtatiously bouncing her eyebrows slightly.

When we were done eating the van dropped Georg and Gustav at their houses before going back to our street. When we got there, I told Tom to go inside without me and Victoria to follow me. I walked with her around the corner to the old park no one went to anymore. When we got there, I sat on the playground steps, Victoria standing a few feet in front of me. She looked around for a few seconds.

"What do you think?" I inquired.

"Why are you showing me this place?"

I shrugged.

"I like coming here when I'm bored, or when I need to think about things. I get a lot of inspiration from the things I think about here,"

She sat down cross-legged next to me on the stair.

"There was a park by my house that I used to go to all the time. I'd sit on the swings and listen to my iPod for hours. I'd go there when I just had to get away from my parents, or when I was so bored I couldn't take it anymore. That park was the story behind most of the stuff I wrote," she explained.

"What kind of stuff do you write?"

"Poems, songs, guitar riffs, piano scores, stories; a lot of stuff."

"Can I hear it sometime?"

"Maybe," she teased.

"What were they about?"

She hesitated before answering.

"Being alone, or abandoned. The need to be wanted, or even noticed."

I sent her a questioning look. She was so funny and friendly, why would she write about stuff like that?

"My parents didn't pay a lot of attention to me. They were always too busy with my brother or work or something else. They could all be in the house and I'd still fell all alone. When they got divorced and my dad got custody of me, I thought we'd be spending more time together. At first we did, but, when his job promoted him, he was always traveling and working late hours. Now that I never really see either one of them anymore, it's like I've been living by myself for the past eight months."

"You know, it normally takes me a long time to tell people stuff like that about me. With you, it just feels like I can say anything," I told her, looking into her eyes.

"Normally I don't say anything to anyone who's not one of my closest friends. It's kinda strange to just tell you about it when I've only known you a couple of days. Strange, yet relieving."

"Sometimes all we need is someone to talk to and vent out everything."

She nodded at this, looking down at the sand.

"Have you ever had a boyfriend?" I asked after a few minutes of silence. Victoria looked up at me with her large, round eyes and shook her head 'no'.

"Anyone one who told you they seriously liked you?" she shook her head again.

"Before last night, had anyone ever kissed you before?" No again. She looked away again when I didn't ask any more questions.

"Come here," I said as I walked to the back of the playground. She obediently followed me to the old set of swings at the edge of the sand. I walked over to one of the swings and gestured for her to sit on it. She once again obeyed and sat down on the swing and lightly grasping the chains. I walked behind her, grabbed the chains over her hands, and pulled back a few feet. Before I let go, I leaned my face around hers. When she turned her head to look at me, I pressed my lips against her softy and briefly before stepping back and letting the swing fly away from me. We stayed there until the sun had set before we started walking back towards our houses with our fingers intertwined.


	6. I'll never forget

The next four months were like watching the sunrise; uplifting, breath taking, like seeing the world in a whole new way. Not the same way as Skittles, but similar.

Over the next four months, Victoria and I started going out together on serious dates. Yeah, the poodles and everyone else at school made fun of us, but we just ignored them. Even Tom stood up for us every so often. She came to our band practices and, unlike other girls I had previously dated, didn't complain about being bored. She was actually pretty into it. She'd even help adjust riffs and lyrics, making us sound a hundred times better. After a whole mess of persuading she played me some of the songs she'd written herself. They were so soulful and powerful they almost brought me to tears, even if I couldn't understand most of it. She became so involved with our band she was practically our fifth member. I even offered her a spot for back-up vocals when we recorded. To my delight, she accepted! Tom also let her do some guitar stuff we normally record a second track for.

But we still found time just for the two of us; whether it was at the Shadow Corner, or at the old park chasing each other around like five-year olds, we made time to be alone. We'd run up and down the playground playing tag until one of us tackled the other or lay on a blanket in the grass watching the stars come out. Having Victoria around just made everything more enjoyable, even Health. The only odd thing was that I only saw her dad once within those four months; other times he was either at work or sleeping. I worried about her being alone in that house, even if I was right across the street. I invited her to stay at my house several times and vice versa but of course my parents had many objections.

One day, I knew something was wrong when Victoria didn't meet Tom and me outside to go to school. I called her phone, but she didn't pick up. We went to school without her, and the entire day my mind was on her.

When we got home, my phone rang. It was Victoria. I immediately picked up.

"Victoria, where were you today? I called you but you-"

"Bill, please come to the park," she sounded like she was crying.

"What's wrong? Are you ok?"

"Please, just come here." She hung up before I could say anything else.

Dropping my backpack in the grass, I sprinted down the street to the park. I found Victoria sitting on the steps of the playground, head in her hands, her delicate shoulders shaking with sobs. I sat down next to her and pulled her into my lap. She buried her face in my chest, wrapping her arms around me as well. I stroked her hair and back, trying to calm her down enough to tell me what was wrong.

"Shh, it's ok. Just tell me what's the matter," I whispered in her ear.

"They're taking me away," she said softly. I almost didn't hear her.

"What?"

"They're taking me away," she repeated, louder this time.

"Who is?"

"Child services," she sobbed, looking up at me. Her eyes were puffy and red from crying so much. "They found out my dad's been leaving me alone so much and they're considering it neglect. So they're putting me in foster care."

I pulled her into me again and just held her as she cried her eyes out into my chest. When her sobs softened to silent tears, I wiped the falling tears from her face.

"I was at the social worker's office all day. They were evaluating my dad on how often he's home. They said he was leaving me alone too much, so he's not fit to take care of me anymore," she sniffled. "I have tonight to pack my stuff and then the social worker is taking me at noon tomorrow."

"Then we'll do whatever you want tonight," I said.

"Is Tom at your house?" she asked.

"No, he has a date with some girl tonight."

"Are your parents there?"

"They shouldn't be."

"Let's go to your house, then."

"Ok."

We stood up and walked back to my house in silence, our arms around each other's waist. We walked through the front door, straight back to my room. We lay on my bed for a while, just holding each other.

"What am I gonna do without you?" she whispered.

"You'll be alright. You have my number, and I'll give you my e-mail and address and everything else. I won't let us fall apart," I told her. "You're one of the best things that ever happened to me, I'm not gonna let myself let go of you just because you won't be across the street anymore."

"What about _me_? You'll still have Tom and Gustav and Georg. I'm not gonna have anybody. I won't know anyone at school, no one's gonna want to get to know me."

"Why would people not want to know you?" I asked.

"People thing I'm a freak." She sniffed

"Like who?"

"Those girls at school."

"Let me tell you something, in ten years no one's gonna remember them, because they don't do anything people actually care about. But you, if you just follow your heart, and let people see who you really are, they'll want to remember you. I know I defiantly won't, and the guys won't either."

"How do I know you're not lying?"

I sat up and reached over to the drawer of my night stand. After rummaging around for a few seconds, I found what I was looking for. Lying down again, I picked up Victoria's hand and slipped on the ring I had picked out a week ago. It was nothing too fancy, just a silver band with the words _'My Angel of Music'_ engraved into it. Since Phantom of the Opera was one of her favorite movies and she was so into music, those words seemed just right. She looked at the ring on her finger in wonder.

"This is my promise, Victoria, that I will never forget about you, that you will always be mine, no matter how far away you might be," I said, still holding her hand in mine. I kissed the back of it before placing it where it was before. Victoria looked into my eyes with a hunger.

"Kiss me, Bill," she whispered.

I leaned down and kissed her with everything I had. Our lips moved together with a passion they never had before. We relived the first night we knew each other, except this time there was no holding back. This time, our bodies moved as one in a dance only true soul mates could master. This time, we didn't stop until we were tired as hell and there was nothing between us but our bare skin. This time we made pure, beautiful, soul-to-soul love that could've turned winter into summer. When we were too tired to continue, we laid in each other's arms, our heavy breathing the only thing piercing the silence of my bed room. There was no need for communication between us as our breathing softened and we drifted to sleep under my blankets.

I was awakened by someone gently shaking me. At first I was afraid it was one of my parents, but was relieved when I saw Tom sitting on the edge of y bed. After handing me a pair of boxers, he signaled me to be quiet and follow him. I managed to pull on the underwear without waking Victoria, and followed Tom down to his room. He closed the door behind us before speaking.

"I heard that Victoria's leaving," he said calmly.

"Don't remind me," I said.

"So what are you gonna do?"

"What _can_ I do? Tell them that they should let her stay because her boyfriend wants her here? Somehow, I don't think they'd buy it," I retorted.

"Well maybe we can convince Mom and Gordon to let her stay with us," he suggested.

"Let her stay with us? They won't let us get a dog and you're suggesting we ask them to let my girlfriend to stay with us? Yeah, I bet they'd let that one slide!"

"Hey, I'm trying to help you out here, but if you'd rather stand by and watch her be taken away, be my guest!" We were standing face to face now, talking loudly, but still not shouting. Knowing he was right, I turned and sat on the bed. My head dropped into my hands as I sighed in frustration.

"What am I gonna do, Tomi? I can't just let her go, but no one's gonna listen to me." I looked up to see Tom sitting next to me. "I love her, I can't lose her now."

He looked at me with sympathetic eyes. I knew he was trying to help, but I knew that there was nothing I could do about this.

"I know; I never thought you'd sleep with a girl until after you got married, but if you feel that strongly about her it can't be like the other girls you've dated."

"This does feel different than any other girl. She gets me, she understands why I do things, we can talk about anything in the world and I know she'll take me seriously. I know we're still young and haven't known each other that long, but she just feels like the right person for me," it was hard to explain how I felt about her, but Tom seemed to understand.

"It sounds like you can talk to her almost as easily as you can talk to me," he said.

"No, Tomi; you know that could never happen. But that's another thing about her, she knows that you're always gonna come first, and she's ok with that! Most girls get upset that I'd choose you over them, but Victoria just- it's so hard to explain."

We sat on Tom's bed without talking for a minute.

"If you really feel that deeply about her, why are you gonna step back and let this happen?" Tom asked me again.

"Because, deep down I know that no matter what I do, or what I say, or where I hide her, it's not gonna make a difference."

"We could try."

I nodded in agreement.

"Alright, I'll ask Mom if there's anything we can do."

He nodded in approval.

"Good. Now, you should probably go back to your girlfriend; it's only 1:30 in the morning so you've got about ten hours before you really have to worry."

"Thanks Tom." I pulled him into a hug before he could protest. He hugged me back before half shoving me out the door.

Victoria was still sleeping when I got back to my room. God, she was beautiful even when she was asleep. I pulled her slender body into me, brushed some stray hairs from her face and placed a soft kiss on her forehead. She seemed to wrap her arms around me in her sleep and snuggle even closer.

"Ich libe dich," I whispered in her ear. She sighed contently in her sleep.

As I was drifting back to sleep, I could've sworn I heard her mumble the same to me.


	7. She can't be gone

I woke again at 8 to find my mom. She was usually awake at this time, so I had high hopes I would be able to talk to her. Deciding it would be best if she didn't find Victoria sleeping naked in my bed, I woke her too. I told her my plan and she eagerly agreed. After finding our clothes and putting them back on, she followed me through my parent's room, living room, and the den before we found my step dad in the kitchen.

"Where's mom?" I asked him.

"At work," he said without looking up from the newspaper in his hands. I cleared my throat so he would look up at us. "Oh, Victoria. What are you two doing up so early? It's only eight."

"Yeah, we know," Victoria said.

"We have something kinda big to ask," I said.

"What?" Gordon asked cautiously.

After we explained the situation, he looked like he was willing to fight for us.

"Well, it certainly would be a drag without you around here, Victoria, what with your big involvement in the band now. And I defiantly don't want to watch Bill become depressed. I'll talk to Simone about it; after all this is her house."

"Could you talk to her, like, soon? The social worker's coming at noon," I told him.

"Yeah, I'll call her right now," he got up and went to the phone. "You two go out and enjoy yourselves, I'll handle this."

"Thank you," we said in unison.

We walked outside and immediately jumped into a suffocating embrace.

"Thank you," Victoria whispered against my neck where her face was buried.

"As long as I don't have to lose you, I'll do whatever it takes," I told her.

I looked up and noticed there were two unfamiliar cars in her driveway; a police car and one that didn't belong to her dad. We walked across the street to find out what was going on. When we walked through the door, there were three suitcases sitting by the door. A woman of about thirty and police officer walked around the corner.

"Victoria, where have you been? I told you I was picking you up at seven thirty," the woman said.

"Who are you?" I asked.

"I should ask you the same thing. My name is Anna, I'm the social worker and this is Mike," she said, gesturing to the officer next to her.

"I thought you said you were coming at noon," Victoria said.

"Well, you thought wrong. Now come on, your stuff's in those suitcases, and your foster family is waiting for you."

"But my stepdad's talking to my mom right now about-"

"Look, this family was hand-picked by her dad and they're waiting," Anna said impatiently.

"But-"

"Mike," Anna commanded.

The man strode forward and grabbed Victoria by her arms. She struggled, but he was too strong for her to overpower. I tried yelling at him, but he just ignored me and said if I got involved I would be arrested. He dragged her out the door, fighting and screaming, into back seat of the social worker's car where another officer was waiting with the door open. When he saw me follow them out, he immediately walked over and lead me away by the arm. I tried to resist but, like the other man, he was too strong to be overpowered. I tried to turn around and look at Victoria in the child-locked car, banging on the windows. There were tears running down her face and she was screaming my name.

"Victoria!" I yelled. The officer shoved me in the direction of my house as Anna's car sped away. When they were far enough down the street I was released. I ran after them until I couldn't see her anymore. The last I saw of her was her tear-covered face calling for me out the window as the car went around the corner. I collapsed to my knees in the grass in defeat, felling hot tears of my own run down my face. I stayed there for a long time, just staring after the car with tears dripping down my face uncontrollably, whispering her name over and over again. Eventually I felt someone sit down beside me. I didn't bother to see who it was; I knew Tom had witnessed the whole scene. He didn't say anything, just pulled me into a tight embrace and let me cry on his shoulder.

"She's gone! She's gone," I repeated over and over.

"No, she's not. She's not gone. She'll text you or call you," he told me in a reassuring voice.

At some point we stood and walked home. I went right to my phone to see if she had called. I had about fifty texts and five voice messages. I automatically dialed Victoria's number, listening to it ring. After the sixth ring someone picked up, but it wasn't Victoria.

"Listen, your girlfriend is going to a different family and there is no way you're gonna see her on a regular basis so why don't you just give this up now," Anna's cold voice came through the phone and hung up before I could get one word out. I could hear Victoria yelling in the background; she sounded so scared and distraught. I wished I could be with her back in my room; holding her, kissing her, loving her like I had been doing the night before. Now she was gone, and I had no idea when I would hear from her next. I felt like my heart had just been ripped from my body and was replaced with lead. Without a word, I stood and walked like a zombie to the old park and sat on the stair. I softly sang the words to one of the songs Victoria had written for me, played just for me in complete privacy.

You go through your life,

Wishing you had everything

To fill your heart's desire;

You go around wishing you had

Something to hold onto;

I never knew what I was looking for,

But now I see that something was you.

Whenever I see

Your beautiful face

I swear I feel my heart

skip a beat;

Whenever I feel

Your hand holding mine

Can't even say what it does to me;

You are the one

Who I think about

Every day,

and at night in my dreams;

So just promise me

You'll always be here

With me


	8. Where'd you go?

We kept in constant touch for over six months. We e-mailed and IMed each other every day, sometimes were even able to call each other. She told me about the different families she would be sent to and how she dreaded each one. She sounded so depressed and upset most of the time, I could almost feel her pain. But when were able to have a normal conversation about the stuff we used to talk about she was her normal, funny, happy self. I told her about the band and how I'd convinced our managers to stop for a few extra days in most of the places we were going to. Since we were covering most of Germany, we were bound to end up somewhere close to Victoria's foster family. I told her about the last few songs we were adding to the album, and how we were getting recognized more and more. She told me she was happy for us and couldn't wait to hear how the tour was.

She told me mostly about how much she hated being in foster care. No one at any of her schools liked her and she was getting pulled into fights everywhere. '_I don't even bother unpacking anymore,_' she wrote once, '_cause I'm probably just gonna be put somewhere else in a couple of months_.' That was the apparent pattern; every other month or so she would be placed with a new foster family. The reasons for her constant moving ranged from complaints about her being '_a selfish bitch'_ to abusive parents. Those scared me the most; in one month she had two broken ribs and a crushed wrist from a bunch of older boys who lived in the same foster family as her because she refused to sleep with them. It tore me apart to hear about how some foster parents beat her for not doing things right or for no reason at all. Most of the families she was placed in had junkies and alcoholics somewhere that were abusing her. Once she called my cell phone crying about how much she wanted to be back with me because she didn't want to be abused anymore. I felt so bad for her; I just wished we could both be in my room, on my bed like her last night with me.

I tried to soothe her pain by telling her what we were gonna do when we saw each other again during the summer. From what I could tell, that was the only thing she had to look forward to at the time. I'd begged my mom to drive me out to see her, but she was always too far away. I tried not to let it show how much I missed her, but I knew everyone could tell. Tom said it was showing even when we rehearsed with Gustav and Georg. As much as tried not to think about her at certain times, she was always on my mind.

We tried to keep as close contact as possible, but with our kick-off tour date approaching, it was hard to talk to each other every day. We slowly began skipping days of contact, which began turning into weeks, then months. While we were on that first tour, she always seemed to conveniently be moved to another place just as we arrived at a town near one of her foster families. It was as if fate was trying to pull us apart. Now it's been nearly four years since we last heard from each other. I still have her e-mail, but I'm afraid she's long forgotten about me. Maybe she's found someone else to love, thought come to think of it I haven't gone out with anyone since she left.

Now, I'm wondering what she's been up to since I heard from her last. We're on our way to some charity event, the rest of my band mates talking aimlessly beside me in the dark SUV. I'm just staring out the window, thoughts once again on Victoria and where she is right now. Did she still find time to write her music? Was she living alone? Did she still have the ring I gave her? As these thoughts ran through my mind, we arrived at the fancy hall where the event was. We walked inside to where almost everyone was standing around looking at paintings on the walls and there was a pianist in the corner skillfully playing complicated pieces. From what I could see, this was going to be one hell of a boring evening.

For nearly two hours the four of us wandered around, looking at the abstract paintings. I have no clue why people find them so fascinating. All I saw in them were splatters of colors that looked like nothing at all. The only thing that held my interest at all was the music the pianist was playing. I wandered over to where she was to watch her play. Her slim fingers moved nimbly over the keys. There was no sheet music on the piano, but she was playing away like an experienced professional. Which didn't seem likely, she didn't look much older than me.

"Not much of a party," I said to her. She chuckled while still playing.

"You should see the church I play at; little old ladies will be asleep one minute then faint dramatically and claim they saw God," she said.

I laughed a little. "Sounds like you get all the best jobs."

"I take offers I get. Keeps food in the fridge, gas in my truck, and me in my apartment."

"You must get a lot of offers."

"People like what they hear, and I get referrals."

"You must be able to play really well."

"Can you not hear what I'm playing?" she asked, pressing harder on the keys, making their sound louder. Some old guy yelled at her and she went back to playing softly.

"Sadly, most of the jobs are for senile old crabs," she said softly. "Weddings are more fun."

"I know what you mean. My brother and I started out playing weddings, clubs; all that shit. Now we're internationally famous," I told her.

"Good for you."

"Yeah, just wish my girlfriend could've been there with us. She was thrown into foster care just before our album came out."

"I know how she feels. I was taken from my dad and my first boyfriend when I was fourteen. Come to think of it, he was in a band with his brother and they were on the verge of a breakthrough when I last saw them."

"When was the last time you heard from him?" I inquired.

"Four years ago, I guess," she said. "I mean, I still have his phone number and everything, but he's probably forgotten about me by now."

"Yeah, pretty much the same story here. Been about four years, still have her info, but she's probably moved on."

I heard Tom calling me over just then.

"My brother's calling me, we're probably leaving here soon," I told her.

"Lucky, I have to be here for another two hours."

"Ouch," I chuckled.

"Can you come back here at, like, 9:30?" She asked as I was about to walk away.

"Uh, sure," I said.

"Cool," she said.

I walked over to where my band mates were waiting.

"We're all bored out of our fucking minds," Tom stated.

"So I take it we're leaving?" I assumed.

They all nodded in response. We left the building and headed back to our hotel, where Georg challenged Gustav to several rounds of mindless video games. Tom said he was headed to a club somewhere, which left me to my own business for the next three hours. I decided to do something I hadn't done in such a long time; I pulled out a photo album with pictures I'd taken of Victoria when we were together. The first few pages were mostly of us sitting with the guys at lunch at school; making faces at the camera, throwing food at each other, even some of one of us picking up Victoria and carrying her off somewhere. Her face in those was priceless, yet still so beautiful. Then there were a bunch of her at our rehearsals. Mostly sitting on an amplifier reading over my lyrics, or something else. That's how she learned to read German. After those were a bunch of random times we were out with the guys when we were on our way to a small gig or just walking around. We had officially declared her our equipment manager, since she knew what instruments were used when and stuff like that. There were also some pictures of a time when we all went to the beach for a day. I had been able to coax her out of her t-shirt so she was in her bikini top and shorts in most of the pictures. If I had thought she looked good in a tank top, she was smoking in her bathing suit. Tom had taken them, so there were a lot of pictures of me rubbing sun screen on her back and us fooling around in the water. (And by fooling around, yes I mean kissing)

Behind all the group pictures, there were many pages of just the two of us, at the park mostly. We would be sitting on the steps, or I got a picture of her on the swings looking intently at the clouds. There was even a bunch I took of us making out on the playground. They weren't really sexual; just two young teenagers who were in love who showed it by playfully and gently kissing over and over, for very long periods of time; or at least that's what she let me take. At the very back of the album there were pictures Victoria hadn't know about, no one did except me. They were of her, sleeping in my bed. I'd taken them just before I'd woken her up that last morning. Every detail of her body was as flawless as I remembered. Her soft, exposed skin still had that slight glow it always seemed to have. Thinking about that night left me both satisfied and grieving.

Before I knew it, three hours had passed. I told Gustav and Georg I was going out before walking out to the rental car our management had given me. I drove back to the building in silence, not even bothering to turn on the radio. I wondered why the pianist had wanted me to come back and talk. It then occurred to me that I'd never seen her face the entire time we talked. She had stayed turned around, playing the piano. The only things I'd been able to tell about her was that she had been wearing a long, strapless black dress, had long dark brown hair, and black nails.

I pulled into the empty parking lot and walked through the doors. All the lights were off but one above the piano. The pianist was still playing, and I could faintly hear her singing as well.

"Couldn't save you from the start  
Love you so it hurts my soul  
Can you forgive me for trying again  
Your silence makes me hold my breath  
Oh, time has passed you by

Ooh, for so long I've tried to shield you from the world  
Ooh, you couldn't face the freedom on your own  
Here I am left in silence

You gave up the fight  
You left me behind  
All that's done's forgiven  
You'll always be mine  
I know deep inside  
All that's done's forgiven

I watched the clouds drifting away  
Still the sun can't warm my face  
I know it was destined to go wrong  
You were looking for the great escape  
To chase your demons away

Ooh, for so long I've tried to shield you from the world  
Ooh, you couldn't face the freedom on your own  
And here I am left in silence

You gave up the fight  
You left me behind  
All that's done's forgiven  
You'll always be mine  
I know deep inside  
All that's done's forgiven

I've been so lost since you've gone  
Why not me before you  
Why did fate deceive me  
Everything turned out so wrong  
Why did you leave me in silence

You gave up the fight  
You left me behind  
All that's done's forgiven  
You'll always be mine  
I know deep inside  
All that's done's forgiven"

When the song was over, I clapped softly from behind her. She still didn't turn around.

"That was beautiful," I told her.

"Thank you; I was hoping you'd like it," she said. "It reminds me of my boyfriend."

"How?"

"He forgot about me, even though he said he wouldn't. But I still love him."

We stayed where we were for several silent beats.

"Turn around," I said.

She stood and stepped off the platform the piano as on. When she turned to face me I couldn't believe what I was seeing; light blue eyes, a small angelic face, a steel necklace in the shape of a guitar pick. Victoria.


	9. How could I ever forget you?

I couldn't remember how to talk or move for a few seconds before I stepped forward and engulfed her in an embrace so strong I lifted her off the ground. We stayed like that for several minutes, just holding each other like we used to. I set back on her feet, lifted her face to mine, and kissed her deeply like I wanted to for so long. At first she kissed me back with just as much intensity, but then stepped away abruptly and stared at me with a sad expression.

"Victoria, what-"

"You said- you promised you would never forget me. But you did! Why?" She cried.

"Victoria, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to. I just got so busy-"

"That you forgot me?"

"No, I mean yes, I mean not purposely," I stammered.

"What happened? Was there someone else?"

"No! Never! The band just got really busy and it took up all my time."

"That's the only reason you stopped talking to me?" she asked in disbelief.

"Well, you kinda stopped talking to me, too," I said honestly.

She sat down on the platform the piano was on, head in her hands, and released a big sigh.

"I know, I know, it's just—all my foster homes and their rules. Right after I turned sixteen I was moved to an area where everybody thought technology was evil. They didn't even have electric lights. If I stepped out of line once they'd beat me with a wooden rod, so I was too afraid to go somewhere to try to contact you. I'm sorry," she said softly.

I sat down beside her and put my arms around her, pulling her into me. She didn't lean against me like she used to, but she didn't pull away either.

"No, don't be. I should've tried harder to find a way to you. The band just took up so much of my time, and I bet Tom was doing it on purpose so I wouldn't seem depressed, but-"

"Why were you depressed?" she asked, looking up at me worriedly, with those eyes I missed so much. I pushed a stray hair from her face before answering.

"Because I missed you so much," I said. "Tom said no matter how hard I tried, everyone could still tell I was upset about you being gone."

She smiled a little bit.

"Almost all my foster families thought I was emo when I was first sent to them because I was upset about leaving you and wanted to be alone all the time."

"So what did you do most of the time?"

"Went out and found places that would pay me to play for them. I made good money playing in restaurants and clubs and stuff like that."

"Yeah, I never thought you'd be able to give up playing music for anything." I glanced down at her hand to see the ring I'd given her was still on her finger. My heart lifted in joy she still had it. She noticed me looking at it before I could look back at her face.

"A lot of my foster families told me to get rid of it, some of them wanted to sell it, but there was no way I was taking it off," she said.

"I always wondered about that, whether you'd kept it or not. Especially after, you know."

"Yeah, I thought about that, too. But, me being ever so hopeful, I kept hoping one day we could be together again; so I kept it."

We sat I silence for a while, not looking at each other but sneaking glances every few seconds.

"I really missed you, you know," Victoria said quietly. I turned her face toward me again.

"I really missed you, too," I said as I leaned down to kiss her again.

This time she didn't push me away, just kissed me back hungrily. I held her close to me, so there was no space between us, as we went back to the days when we would sit at the old park and do the very same thing. We even laid back on the platform like we used to on the playground in the warm sunlight. Eventually, she had to go back to her apartment. I didn't want to leave her when I'd just found her again. I invited her to come back to my hotel with me, but she had to work in the morning. As I was getting into my rented car, Victoria knocked on my window.

"My truck won't start; can you give me a ride back to my apartment?"

I drove her to an old building that looked like it hadn't been fixed up in years. And there were guys standing around that looked like they would have no problem giving a pretty young girl some trouble just so they can have some fun. Some of them were already looking at Victoria in a way that made me want to snarl at them.

"You live here?" I asked in disbelief.

"It's all I can afford," she shrugged. "Playing in clubs made me a lot of money, but not enough to get a decent apartment and keep my truck."

I walked her to her up to her apartment on the fourth floor. I didn't like the idea of her walking around a place like that by herself. When we got to her door, she unlocked it and stepped inside.

"Thanks for the ride, will I be able to see you again?" she asked.

"Of course; how about dinner tomorrow at the restaurant a few blocks from the pier at six?" I proposed.

"That sounds nice." She smiled that smile I'd been dreaming of for the past four years.

With one last kiss good night, I left her building and went back to our hotel. The instant I walked back into my hotel room, Tom picked up on my good mood.

"What's with you?" he asked with a smirk on his face.

"The best thing that could ever happen to me," I said, half not paying attention.

"And what would that be?"

"You know that pianist that was at the event?"

"Yeah, she was cute; looked very familiar, though."

"Remember Victoria?"

A look of realization overcame his face.

"That was Victoria? No way!"

"Yeah, and I'm meeting her tomorrow for dinner."

"That is awesome! You spend the past four years sulking about her leaving-" I shot him a look, "-you know it's true. And now you find her again; that's just unreal!"

I told him about the whole confrontation from our conversation at the event, to our last kiss. I could tell he was genuinely happy for me. He had always been so supportive about me being with her from the first day we met. When I went to bed that night, I dreamed the two of us were at the park again; sitting on the swings, lying in the grass, chasing each other around. It was just like old times, except for one small difference; Victoria was literally glowing from a bright light within her. _'She really is an angel'_ I thought in my sleep.

**You may be thinking the story stops here, but you're WRONG! Dun, dun, DUUUUUUUUUUUNN!!!!! Just sit tight for now, I'm hard at work on the next chapter! And here's a little hint:  
Bill finds out something shocking about Victoria that will greatly impact her decision about touring with him.  
New chapter should be up soon!**


	10. The last night

I awoke the next day at around two thirty in the afternoon. Since we had the day off, it didn't matter what time I got up. The first thing I did was make a reservation at the restaurant for that evening. I didn't want to take the chance of it being full. After that was settled, I took a shower. While doing so, I thought mainly about the fact that we would be leaving this city soon, and I was defiantly not going to lose Victoria again. It was the last day of the month, so she wouldn't be paying rent for her apartment until tomorrow, so I had until then to convince her to come on tour with us. First, I had to convince our tour managers. When I was done with my shower nearly an hour later, I dressed in an old t-shirt and a pair of dark jeans. I exited my hotel room to find my managers, and almost walked right into Georg and Gustav.

"Where are you going in such a hurry?" Gustav asked.

"Where's Jost?" I asked, not bothering to answer.

"In the lobby, where are you-"

"Ask Tom to fill you in," I called over my shoulder, already walking quickly towards the elevators.

When I got to the ground floor, I did a quick scan of the room for Jost. I spotted him at the front desk, probably arranging us to check out. Twenty minutes later, I had his approval of Victoria joining us on our tour. I was so thrilled, I was almost skipping back to the elevators. I was tackled by Georg and Gustav coming out excitedly.

"Is it really Victoria? You actually found her?" Georg was smiling from ear to ear.

"Yes, now will the two of you get off of me?"

They stood up and helped me up, too.

"I can't believe it's been four years since we saw her last," Gustav said, also with a big grin on his face. "How's she been?"

"I wish she'd been better. She lives in a shit hole of an apartment and I don't like it one bit. That's why I'm hoping I can convince her to come on tour with us," I told them.

"I hope she does; haven't seen her in forever. I miss having her around," Georg said.

The two of them walked away talking about old times. I headed upstairs to get ready for our date that evening. After putting my hair up in its usual lion-mane style and putting on my usual dark eye-make up, I moved to what I was going to wear to the restaurant. Since it was a semi-formal place, I chose a black button-up shirt to wear with my jeans. After that was all decided on, I realized I still had an hour before I was suppose to meet Victoria. I sighed and decided to watch T.V to pass the time. The instant I turned the television on, there was a knock at my door.

"Come in," I called. Tom walked into the room and stood by the bed near the door.

"So, when are you meeting Victoria?" he asked.

"In an hour; why?"

"Have you thought about what she's gonna do when she comes with us on tour?"

"Well, no." Come to think of it, I hadn't thought at all about what she was gonna do.

"Bill, you gotta think about these things in advance. Now we both know she's not gonna have a lot of fun just sitting back stage," he lectured.

"Tom, did you just come in here to tell me she's gonna be bored?"

"No, I came here to tell you that I managed to get her a job on our equipment crew."

"And you couldn't just say that part because…" I prompted.

"It's more fun when I can act like I'm actually significantly older than you." He ducked out of the way just in time as I threw a pillow at him.

"A simple 'thank you' would be better, but ok then," he laughed.

"Thanks, I don't know what I'd do without you here to think about these things," I said sincerely.

"Other than have a very bored girlfriend?" He wasn't fast enough to dodge the next pillow that hit him square in the head.

"Beatles!" I shouted. We both burst out laughing, thinking about that one night so long ago…

*~*~*~FLASHBACK! ~*~*~*

We were all at Victoria's house, in the living room. We were sitting on the couches, playing music and just goofing around. Georg and Victoria were talking about some oldies rock bands, and it was quickly turning into an argument.

"What are you talking about? The Beatles could kick The Ramones' asses!" Victoria said in a matter-of fact-ly way.

"Alright, I'll give you that; but AC/DC tops all, including The Beatles," Georg said, emphasizing the last part. Victoria stared at him with wide eyes and mouth agape.

"Take. That. Back," she said slowly.

"No," Georg said to torment her. "AC/DC has always been better than The Beatles, and they always will be."

"Beatles," Victoria stated.

"AC/DC."

"Beatles."

"AC/DC." They were talking louder and louder until they were shouting.

"Beatles!"

"AC/DC!"

"Beatles!"

"AC-" a pillow hit him right in the face.

"Beatles!"

"Did you seriously just throw a pillow at me?"

"You were asking for it," Victoria said, looking away and crossing her arms.

"So you threw a _pillow_ at me?"  
"You pushed me too far!" Victoria shouted and covered her face with her hands like a little kid.

We all laughed at her silly child-like act. I laughed even harder when I saw her peeking at me from behind her fingers. Her dropped her hands and crossed her arms over her chest.

"What?"

"You are so cute," I said, pulling her into me.

*~*~*~ END FLASHBACK! ~*~*~*

"I hope she does come with us on tour. She's always fun to have around," Tom said as he left my room.

I looked at the clock and realized I had half an hour until I was meeting up with Victoria. I decided to start heading down to the restaurant now. I exited the hotel and decided to walk to the restaurant. It was a good eight blocks, so I figured I would get there in time. On the way, I saw a pair of guitar pick shaped earrings in a store window. I bought them for her, knowing she would like them. There was a store by The Shadow Corner that sold a lot of punk clothes and accessories. She often looked at the stuff in the windows, but refused to let me buy anything for her. Now that I had found her again, I wanted to give her the world. But since the world can't be put in a box with a bow on top, I guess I could start with a pair of earrings.

I made it to the restaurant with ten minutes to spare. I waited outside for a few minutes before Victoria walked up from across the street. She was wearing a black halter top that had a rather low neck line and jeans. Oddly, she was wearing a large pair of sunglasses, which she never used to. Whatever she wore, I always thought she looked enticing.

"Hey," she said in greeting.

"Hey," I pulled her in for a soft kiss, wrapping my arms around her waist.

We pulled apart and walked into the restaurant, my arm still around her. We sat down in a dim, quiet corner of the restaurant where she finally removed her sunglasses, but kept her hair covering part of her face.

"So, what have you been up to since I saw you last?" she asked after the waiter had taken our drink orders, "other than becoming famous world-wide?"

"Well, other than music, there was thinking of you, and then nothing," I answered. She blushed slightly. "What about you, other than music?"

"Let's see; after you left last night, I took a shower, ate some ice cream, and went to bed. Prior to that, there was moving around a whole f-ing lot, and, to skip all the depressing details, nothing."

"Fun," I said sarcastically. She just rolled her eyes in amusement.

"So, those last few songs you threw in on your first album, where did they come from?"

"Any chance you can be more specific?"

"Wenn Nicht Mehr Geht, Rette Mich, then there was Heilig and Totgeliebt and Hilf Mir Fliegen. Where did those come from?"

I looked into her sapphire blue eyes.

"They came from you," I said. "When you left one of the ways I tried to cope with it was writing new songs."

"I didn't have the time or resources or paper, for the record, to write any new music. Which really sucks 'cause I've had songs stuck in my head for-I don't know-ever."

The waiter came by our table to take our orders. We went through the rest of the meal talking about music and old times and any other random thing that we could think of. When we left the restaurant we decided to walk down to the pier. It was dark outside by now and the streetlamps were on, casting a soft light on the empty side walk.

"So how did you find your apartment?" I asked.

"When I first came to this town I asked the people I went to for jobs. They said that neighborhood had cheap rent," she said cautiously.

"How much is your rent, if you don't mind my asking."

"Not at all; about $325 a month."

"Hmm, that's not so bad."

"Yeah, but when you have to buy food, gas, and pay taxes and phone bills, it's not easy to pay all of it. And my landlord does not like it when I can't pay my rent," she said the last part very softly, but I still heard her.

I stopped walking and stood directly in front of her small frame.

"Victoria, does he hurt you?" I asked in a serious tone.

After staring at me for a minute, Victoria turned her head to her left and pulled her hair away from her face. Behind her soft brown locks was a large bruise along the side of her face. I felt my own face being taken over by an expression of horror. I tilted her face several different ways under a streetlamp, examining the injury. It didn't look too bad, but the fact that someone would dare strike someone as innocent and harmless as Victoria just didn't make sense to me.

"I'm not gonna be able to pay it all by tomorrow," she said softly.

Her eyes were closed and there were tears running down her face. I pulled her into a tight embrace. She leaned on my shoulder and sobbed into it softly.

"I don't want him to hurt me again," she whispered. "I don't want to lose you again."

"Then don't," I said.

Victoria pulled back to look up at me.

"What do you mean?"

"Come on tour with us. You'll get to see the whole world, and be able to write your music, and Tom already has a job for you on equipment and-"

She covered my mouth with her delicate hand.

"Bill, I don't think I can," she said, looking sadly into my eyes. She moved her hand away.

"What do you mean? If your landlord treats you like shit, why stay?"

"He says I owe him for all the other months I couldn't pay full rent, and he'd call the police if I left without paying it all."

"How much do you owe him?"

"Not including the rent I have to pay tomorrow, about four hundred dollars."

I wiped the tears from her face with my thumb.

"Starting tonight, you won't have to worry about that anymore," I told her. She gave me a confused look. "We're making a quick stop at the bank, and then we're going to get your stuff from your apartment. I'm not letting you spend one more night away from me."

She gave me a hopeful smile, eyes shining now from excitement rather than tears."

"Would you really do that for me?"

I kissed her softly on the forehead before answering.

"For you I would do anything."

She pushed herself up on her toes to kiss my mouth before we walked off hand-in-hand to the nearest ATM.


	11. Escape

**Sorry I haven't updated in soo long. I had major writer's block, but the next chapter's finally here! YAY!!!!!!!!**

Once we got the four hundred dollars from the ATM, we set out to Victoria's apartment building. I called Tom on the way to tell him to get a van over there as soon as possible. When we got there, we went straight up to her floor and into her apartment. She went to the small hall closet and retrieved four large suitcases. I followed her to her into the small bedroom where she instructed me to fill one suitcase with all of her books, CDs and any pictures there were. I started with the song books sitting on the floor next to her guitars. She may have only had three guitars, but she also had about thirty song books. I stacked them neatly on the inside of the suitcase before I began putting in the books from her bookshelf. On the very bottom shelf, there were a bunch of photo albums, most of them from before she was taken away. I would've started looking at them, but we were in a hurry so I stuffed them into the suitcase with the rest of the books. Next I walked over to her CD rack where she had probably five dozen CDs.

"Are you sure CDs weren't a major part of your budget?" I called over my shoulder.

"Uhh, maybe," Victoria smiled at me. She was busy putting pairs of jeans and t-shirts into the two other suitcases.

I just smirked and shook my head. I put the CDs into the suitcase as well. I started scoping out the apartment for any other books or pictures I might've missed. Since there wasn't much to start with, we had everything packed up within twenty minutes. I looked out the window to see that Tom had just pulled up with the van. I didn't walk away without noticing Georg and Gustav climb out of the van as well. Why was I was not surprised? I got their attention from the window and told them the apartment number. A minute or so later there was a knock at the door. I was relieved it was the guys and not Victoria's landlord.

"Where's Victoria?" and excited Georg asked.

"Bill, who's out there?" said person asked form the bedroom.

She walked into the main room and her face immediately lit up when she spotted the guys. They each took turns scooping her up in a bear hug and asking her how she's been.

"As much as I love to catch up right now, I think we should get my stuff out of here before my landlord come up here," Victoria suggested.

Leaving the money on the kitchen counter, we gathered up her suitcases, guitars, keyboard, and amplifier and started down the hallway. We managed to make it down the stairs and were almost out the door when we heard someone behind us.

"Where the fuck are you all going?" a rough voice called from the hallway.

We all turned around to see a tired looking man leaning out of a doorway. He was probably in his thirties or forties, wearing jeans and a flannel shirt, and sounded a like he'd been drinking. He also looked like one of the guys I'd seen outside the building when I'd dropped Victoria off the night before. I guessed he was her landlord, because she looked scared of him.

"I'm moving out, Lenny," she said in a small voice.

The man laughed and sauntered toward us.

"Is that so? Well, not until I get the money you owe me, little girl," he said, looking Victoria up and down like a pedophile.

"It's on the counter," I said, stepping between them. "Now if you'll excuse us, we're leaving."

"Hold up," Lenny said, grabbing Victoria's arm. "I wanna make sure it's all there, so why don't you and I go up and make sure." He started pulling her towards the stairs again.

"Hey!" I yelled, dropping the suitcases in my hands. "Let go of her."

"Oh, big-bad-lion-man is mad I'm touching his girlfriend," he teased, putting his other dirty hand on her other shoulder. She flinched away, but he just tightened his grip.

"Damn right. You're not taking her anywhere alone," I growled.

He regarded me for some time. I was clearly taller than him, and much more lucid. He was also outnumbered, so it wasn't likely he would try to take on us all.

"Fine," he said at last, "you come up with us, but you stay in the background and don't say a word. Get it?"

"Got it."

"Good."

"But if you make one wrong move towards Victoria, I swear to God, you'll wish that crap you were drinking would've killed you already."

"We'll see."

The three of us walked up the stairs back to Victoria's apartment. When we walked in the door, I leaned against the kitchen wall while Lenny and Victoria went to the counter to count the money we'd left. Lenny picked it up in his hand and first weighed it, then fanned it out and looked at it, then finally started counting it. He counted it five times, each time slower than the last. When he counted for the last time, he set the money in front of him and just stared at it for some time.

"You're short by forty bucks," he said snidely.

Victoria grumbled incoherently as she dug through her pockets. Two twenties were slammed down in front of the man less than ten seconds later.

"Have a nice life," Lenny said with a wave of his hand.

Victoria grabbed my hand as the two of us literally ran from the apartment. We ran all the way down the hall, down the stairs, and out the front doors. When were safely outside, I picked Victoria off the ground and spun her around in circles. She laughed like a happy five-year old, not stopping even when I set her on her feet. Even as I pressed my lips to hers, she still giggled with excitement.

"Would you stop laughing and hold still?" I asked, starting to giggle as well. She was now bouncing on the balls of her feet in addition to the giggling.

She just looked up at me with all the excitement in the world in her eyes and threw her arms around my neck.

"I'm free! I'm rid of him!" she whispered, more to herself than me.

Behind us, Tom honked the horn of the van impatiently. We climbed in with everyone else and drove back to the hotel.

**Once again, you might be thinking the story ends here, but once again, NO! Stay tuned, and review por favor! Bitte! Thank you to those who have and those who are going to!!**


	12. Did I mention how much I missed you?

**Heyy y'all! Just to warn you, it gets a little- well actually very- smutty in this chapter, so fasten your seat belts!**

We walked into my hotel room, just me and Victoria, and collapsed on the bed. After leaving the apartment building, we all had gone to a club to celebrate. Right now, Georg and Gustav were passed out in their room, and Tom had disappeared with some girl. For now, it was just us.

"I forgot you could dance like that," I said, turning to her.

She had spent the entire time wriggling her hips like a belly dancer to the music. Even during slow songs, she rocked her hips against mine to the rhythm of the songs.

"Well we've only been dancing a couple of times," she replied with a smirk.

Before she left we'd been to a couple of parties where she'd danced the same way. Both times I was proud to say she was with me and slightly intimidated when she pulled me out on the dance floor and started grinding against me. She was by far a better dancer than me, so I pretty much just stood there with my hands on her hips.

"Well with the way you dance, it'd be hard for anyone to forget dancing with you."

I pulled her on top of me so she was laying her head on my chest, still looking up at me. I tilted my head up to give her a quick kiss. She sighed contently when I pulled away, eyes closed.

"As boring as it was, I'm glad I took that job at the charity event," she said softly.

"As boring as it was, I'm glad we went."

We laid like that for what felt like forever, the only sounds coming from our quiet breathing. It reminded me of the night before she was taken away. Except now we didn't have to worry about anything bad happening to either of us. I ran one hand up and down her back, pressing slightly. I was surprised to hear her wince in what sounded like pain when I reached a certain spot.

"What's wrong?" I asked worriedly.

"Nothing, you just hit a soft spot."

"Why would you have a soft spot on your back?"

Her small body tensed on top of me.

"No reason."

"Victoria, let me see."

Slowly, she sat up next to me, facing away from me, and pulled her shirt over her head. I was not ready for what I saw under it; several bruises covering her soft skin. Each of them was either hand or belt-shaped and of varying colors. I sat up, automatically pulling Victoria into my arms.

"Did I mention my landlord _really_ did not like it when I couldn't pay all my rent?" she whispered, leaning into my chest.

"You don't have to worry about him anymore; I won't let him touch you ever again," I told her.

"Thank you."

We sat like that for some time, my head resting on top of hers. I became bored and started rubbing her back again, more gently this time, as she started playing with the buttons on my shirt. She slowly started undoing them one by one until my shirt was hanging open exposing my bare chest. Her finger tips began moving in small circles, gradually increasing in circumference. My own hand was playing with the clasp of her bra, contemplating whether or not to unhook it.

My decision was made when she turned her small, perfect face towards me and captured my lips with hers in a heated kiss. She wrapped her arms around my torso as she lay back on the bed, pulling me on top of her. I reached behind her and undid the clasp of her bra as we continued kissing. I pulled it away from her, feeling the warmth of her bare breasts against my skin. I felt Victoria let out a soft moan as I stroked and rubbed each one with my long fingers. Kissing down her neck, I gently took each nipple with my mouth; playing with each one and running my tongue stud over them until they grew hard, Victoria's moans becoming louder. Then I kissed my way down to her jeans and unbuttoned them, running my fingers along the skin of her hips.

I pulled her jeans and panties slowly, kissing down her leg in the process. Coming back up, I analyzed every inch of Victoria's perfect body; her curves, her soft flesh, the rise and fall of her chest as she breathed in and out. My finger skimmed down her body starting at her shoulder, down the center of her chest, over her stomach, stopping at the spot I know she wanted me right now. Instead of sliding my finger inside her like she was expecting, I leaned down abruptly and pressed my lips to hers forcefully. Her tongue pleaded for entrance, and I didn't hesitate to accept it.

My shirt was pulled off my shoulders and I could feel her hand sliding down my body to the waistband of my pants; which were undone and unzipped in a matter of seconds. Before I had time to realize it, Victoria had us flipped over so that she was now lying on top of me. She pulled back and looked at me for a moment before she began kissing down my neck.

"What are you doing?" I moaned.

"Returning the favor," She said seductively.

She made her way down my upper body, down to my jeans where she tugged them and my boxers off slowly. Coming back up, her hand slid across my thigh stopping right on top of my star tattoo. She rubbed it softly with her finger tips before leaning done to kiss the center of it.

"When did you get that?" she asked. She didn't sound like she really cared for the answer.

"T-two years ago," I panted. Her hand was making its way towards my hardening cock.

"Mmm, I like it," she said, leaning down to kiss it again.

Her hand was now massaging the skin around the base my cock and she was gently nipping at my tattoo. Her mouth found its way to my now stick-straight cock and began kissing at licking at the sensitive flesh, drawing moans of pleasure from me. After a few minutes of this sweet torture, Victoria crawled back up to my face and lay on top of me once again. I stretched up to kiss her soft lips passionately. We rolled over for the second time, now panting like a couple of dogs on a hot day.

Looking into Victoria's sapphire-blue eyes, I slowly slid myself into her. I could see the lust and desire swirling around in her eyes. When I was all the way in, I stayed perfectly still, waiting for her to tell me to move. When she started rocking her hips against mine, I began thrusting slowly so I wouldn't hurt her. I could feel her nails digging into my back and the moans of ecstasy vibrating through her.

"Biiiillllll," she moaned.

I moved faster and before long she was moving her hips in rhythm with me, both of us moaning each other's names and other unintelligible things. We went at that pace for a good chunk of time before we both came at almost the same time. After we came, we lay in each other's arm's breathing harder than any other time that night. We fell asleep like that; it was just like our last night together, only better.

**Well, what'd cha think?? This may be getting a little annoying, but this isn't the ending either! However, I am going to be ending this fic within the next two or possibly three chapters. ******** BUT, I have a whoooole bunch of other fics that I'm currently working on! :D YAY!! So for now, just read, review, and relax. BYE FOR NOW!**


	13. I'll never let you go again

I awoke the next morning to find that Victoria was not in the bed with me. As I became more aware of my surroundings, I could hear the shower in the bathroom running. A few minutes later she emerged from the bathroom, wearing nothing but a towel. I watched her walk over to the one suit case of hers that we'd brought up from the van the previous night. She knelt in front of it as she rummaged around for clothes. When she had a set picked out, she glanced back at me. I closed my eyes so she would think I was still asleep. When I peeked through one eye a moment later, Victoria had dropped her towel and was pulling on a flimsy pair of underwear. From what I could see, she had pulled out a bra that matched it. She then pulled on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, but in my opinion, she looked better without it all.

"Do you really have to put clothes on?" I asked groggily.

She turned her head of damp hair around to look at me and smiled.

"I thought you were awake. And yes, I must if I want to go out in public," she said as she sat down on the bed next to me. "And how are you this morning?"

"Well if I do say so myself, this is one of the best mornings I have ever woken up to."

"And why is that?"

I wrapped my arm around her slim waist, pulling her down on the bed.

"Because I finally know where you are," I said, placing a kiss on her forehead.

We lay perfectly still for what felt like hours, but didn't get bored. Of course the moment was interrupted when Georg knocked on the door and told us everyone else wanted to go down to breakfast. Deciding we should join them, I got up and took a quick shower while Victoria dried her hair and applied make-up to her naturally beautiful face. Once I was dressed, we grabbed our shoes and headed downstairs to meet up with everyone else. When we walked into the restaurant there were eggs and beagles and every other kind of breakfast item one could imagine sitting on a cart.

"We couldn't remember what you liked to eat, so we just kinda ordered some of everything," Georg admitted with his hands in his pockets.

"Um, thanks," Victoria said uncertainly.

She didn't eat that much, just a couple of waffles and some eggs; but the rest of us cleaned out the entire cart of food. When we were done, Jost told us to get our stuff and come down to the lobby. We would be leaving the hotel in an hour to get to the airport and then be flying out to the U.S. We all piled into the elevators to go back to our rooms. On the way up, Victoria was bouncing around excitedly like a puppy about to go for a walk.

"Why are you so hyper all the sudden?" Tom asked her.

"Dude, I spend the majority of my life in the U.S., remember?" she half shouted in reply.

"Yeah Tom, how did you forget that?" Gustav asked sarcastically, pretending to smack him up-side the head.

Two hours later, we were on a plane to New Jersey (which, ironically, was where Victoria was from). The entire time she talked about what she and her friends used to do and all the places she wanted to visit. We were actually kinda glad when she fell asleep. However, she went right back into hyper mode the instant we landed. Since it was late, she wasn't able to show us all the places she wanted to; and since we were only staying a couple of days, she wouldn't be able to.

The next morning, we all went to the venue to do the sound check. While the rest of the band and I were on stage, the crew showed Victoria what guitars Tom used for what songs, how the lights were suppose to go, and whatnot. Like most other things, she picked up on it all really fast. When the time for the concert came, everything went nice and smooth. When we played 'Sacred' I pulled her on stage and introduced her to the crowd as my girlfriend. Some people booed and hissed, but almost everyone cheered happily.

On the day we were leaving, we had a few hours before the plane took off, so Victoria got to show us around some of her old favorite places. Those places included a book store, a mall, and a small park. The rest of the guys didn't get the significance of it, but I understood perfectly.

We were in the U.S. for two months doing concerts and promotions. I don't know if it was just my opinion, but things seemed a lot more relaxed with Victoria helping out everywhere. She always knew just what to do when something went wrong, and sometimes you wouldn't even know something was wrong because she could fix things so well. On the day we returned to Germany, I helped her get settled in my apartment with me. When all that was done, we went to the Shadow Corner to get something to drink. Afterwards, it was getting dark outside as we walked down the street. We walked all the way back to our old houses; neither of our parents lived there anymore, so we continued down the darkening street. We didn't even realize where we were headed until we got to the old park. It was a wonder it hadn't been torn down.

Victoria walked over to the swings and sat down. I followed her and stood next to her.

"I'm kinda surprised nobody tore this place down by now," she said.

"Yeah, me too. You know, I came here almost every day after you left."

She looked up at me with her big eyes shining in the light of the street lamps.

"Really?"

I nodded. "Yeah, it reminded me so much of you; I would just come here and think about old times."

"I miss those old times. I wish they could've lasted longer."

There were a few moments of silence as I gathered my courage.

"You know, I think we should stop thinking about the past so much and focus on our future. Music, traveling, having a family."

Her head snapped up at the last part of my sentence.

"Victoria, I love you more than any words or lyrics can say. There's no melody, or line, or riff that could possibly describe it. I want to spend my whole life with you."

I pulled the small velvet box from my pocket and slowly dropped onto one knee in front of her.

"Victoria, will you marry me?"

Her face was blank for a second before it lit up like every star in the sky.

"Yes!"

I stood, pulling her up with me into a tight embrace as I started kissing her again and again. I eventually put her down and slid the ring onto her finger. She starched up to kiss me again before we headed back home to tell everyone else our big news.

**Well, I'm sorry to say that there will be only one more chapter after this. :( HOWEVER, I am currently hard at work on another one for y'all!!! :) **

**So just hang for the next chapter, then prepare for something completely different! (in a good way!)**


	14. And they all lived happily ever after

The wedding hadn't been very big; besides Victoria and myself, there was Tom, Gustav, and Georg, as my best man and groom's men, a few of Victoria's friends as her maid of honor and bride's maids, my parents and some close relatives, and then Victoria's cousins and more old friends. But the size of it didn't really matter. She looked beautiful in her long, form-fitting, silk dress, and I could just sense the excitement vibrating off of her. As long a she was happy, I was happy. She got even more excited when I surprised her by inviting her dad. We had the reception in my parent's backyard, which is oddly big for just two people.

For our honeymoon, we went to Genova, Italy. We stayed in a hotel right on the beach, waking up to the sound of the ocean every morning. We spent the days walking on the beach, touring the city, and any other fun thing we could find. Our nights, well let's just say we didn't do much sleeping, if you catch my drift ;)

Five years after we'd married, Victoria found out she was pregnant! We had our daughter, Elise, in the middle of that November. On the day she was born, I fell in love all over again with the perfect little infant wrapped in the pink blanket. She had Victoria's big blue eyes with light brown hair and the most adorable smile in the world. We'd named her for the song by Beethoven, "Fur Elise" (Victoria loved that song.) One of the best things about her was that she hardly ever cried. We were able to sleep through the night, despite friend's and family's warnings. She always smiled at everyone and seemed to lift the feeling in the room no matter what. I guess she got that from her mother!

When she was nine months old she went on tour with us and had such a great time. She even toddled out onto the stage when she was learning to walk. Tom absolutely adored her, and Victoria and I agreed he made the best uncle for her. Whenever we need someone to watch her, he was always first to volunteer. When she learned to talk, she would sing with me on stage. The fans adored her, sometimes even throwing stuff for her on stage!

I still think about how much I missed her when she was taken away. Every day I am thankful I found her again, even if we had both lost hope somewhere along the way. Yeah, we had all those bad times in the past, but the good by far outweighed the bad; and as of right now, we've stopped dwelling on the past and are taking on the present with our little baby girl and friends, one step at a time.

Well guys and gals, that's it! My first fic is complete!

Fic numero dos is in the works right now, so hang tight!


End file.
